Zoroastrians, Zoroaster Quotes
Unlike other conquerors who wanted their wealth, property, animals or women, this was an offer that was almost too good to refuse even if the community were well fortified and had organized soldiers. It is important to note that these options were not available to all people. The Prophet had decided to allow Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians to practice their religion and pay the fizya tax which was not very high. The Persians were Zoroastrians and hence the did not have to convert which most other people did. The Muslim conquest of Persia, therefore, was much easier than most other places.
At the time, the Muslim discrimination, terrible as it was, was not as bad as Christian discrimination against any non-Christians where death was very common. For many Muslims, the older historical values and practices are desirable if not mandatory today, while many others are modernists like most Christians who reject the Christian practices and morality of the past,
This is the pitch that has brought volunteers to the Al-Qaeda terrorist banner throughout the Muslim world. “Polytheists” refer to Christians who because of the concept of the Trinity are believed by Muslims to be breaking the Commandment to worship only one God. “Crusaders” refers to Christians. Christians and Jews are not the only religions who many Muslims regard as the enemy of Islam. In the final pitch the listener is given the choice between victory or martyrdom. The latter does not have quite the same meaning for the Muslim as for most of the rest of the world. A Muslim who dies fighting for Islam, the religion teaches, goes directly to Heaven bypassing all judgment. He gets the best treatment in heaven including the services of 72 virgins. The notion seems ludicrous to most of us today, but in the Crusader era, several Popes essentially claimed the same thing for Christians who died fighting for the faith in the Crusades—the virgins were only a modern Muslim thing.
This quotation is one of the great religious ecumenical statements of history. Mani’s religion became extinct. Zoroaster was the prophet who founded the religion of Persia that preceded Islam and still has some followers. Like Judaism and Christianity, it is allowed under Islam as Mohammad had a large part of the Middle East who followed that religion.
